(Short Stories) As Is in the Original (S
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கைலஞாிy சி`கைதக - கைலஞ} க^ணாநிதி (((ராஜா ஆqகில ெமாழிெபய}zW ))) Kalaignar in English Translation As Is in the Original (Short Stories) Translated by : P. Raja In tamil script, unicode/utfunicode/utf----88 format Acknowledgements: Our Sincere thanks go to the Tamil Virtual Academy for providing a scanned PDF of this work. The e-text has been generated using Google OCR and subsequent editing and proof-reading. Preparation of HTML and PDF versions: Dr. K. Kalyanasundaram, Lausanne, Switzerland. © Project MaduraiMadurai,, 19981998----2020.2020. Project Madurai is an open, voluntary, worldwide initiative devoted to preparation of electronic texts of tamil literary works and to distribute them free on the Internet. Details of Project Madurai are available at the website https://www.projectmadurai.org/ You are welcome to freely distribute this file, provided this header page is kept intact. 2 கைலஞாிy சி`கைதக ( கைலஞ} க^ணாநிதி (((ராஜா ஆqகில ெமாழிெபய}zW ))) Source: கைலஞாிy சி`கைதக (ஆqகில ெமாழிெபய}zW ) கைலஞ} க^ணாநிதி (ராஜா ெமாழிெபய}zW ) Kalaignar in English Translation As Is in the Original (Short Stories) Translated by : P. Raja Edited by : P. Marudanayagam & V. Murugan Bharathiar University, Coimbatore, India & Macmillon Publishers India Ltd. © Bharathiar University, Coimbatore 2009 All rights reserved. First published 2009, Rs 300 Macmillan Publishers India Ltd., Mumbai/Delhi/Chennai, Companies and representatives throughout the world ISBN 10:0230-639259 ; ISBN 13: 978-0230639256 Published by : Rajiv Beri for Macmillan Publishers India Ltd, New Delhi 110 002 Typeset by : Bharati Composers, Rohini, Delhi 110 085 Printed by S.M. Yogan at Macmillan India Press, Chennai 600 041 ---------- The views and content of this book are solely of the author(s). The author(s) of the book has/have taken all reasonable care to ensure that the contents of the book do not violate any existing copyright or other intellectual property rights of any person in any manner whatsoever. In the event the author(s) has/have been unable to track any source and if any copyright has been inadvertently infringed, please notify the publisher in writing for corrective action. -------------- 3 Foreword Dr Kalaignar M. Karunanidhi M. Karunanidhi Chief Minister Secretariat Chennai - 600 009 Date: 12.05.2009 I am extremely happy to know that Bharathiar University, Coimbatore, has taken the initiative to bring out a selection of my writings in English. Bharatidasan, a formidable revolutionary poet, instilled in the Tamils an intense love for Tamil in such exhortations as May you thunder, O Conch! That the never diminishing Tamil Is our life-breath and our prosperity. Periyar E.V. Ramasamy and Perarignar Anna devoted their entire lives to promote among the Tamils an awareness of the dignity of their race. Following in their footsteps, from my childhood to this day I have immersed myself in the task of writing in order to keep the Tamil youth ever vigilant because of my desire that the Tamil land and the Tamil society should progress rising to the level of the rest of mankind. With this end in view, my writings have taken numerous forms such as poetry, drama, fiction, essay, epistle and travelogue: Many have admiringly observed and continue to observe that my literary output has also contributed to the onward march of the Tamils in several spheres. In such a context, let me unreservedly and to my heart's content praise Bharathiar University, especially its Vice Chancellor, Dr G. Thiruvasagam, for his efforts to publish the most significant of those writings in English. 4 My thoughts have always centred round the idea that the Tamils should awaken and that the Tamil land should achieve worldwide progress. May these translations effectively serve that cause dear to my heart! To Dr G. Thiruvasagam Vice Chancellor, Bharathiar University Coimbatore --------------------- Cover jacket text: Kalaignar's fiction is a case of trusting the teller before trusting the tale. It is imposing personality of Karunanidhi, the man that defines Kalignar the artist in him. A writer with a reformist zeal and an uncompromising nationalist bias, Karunanidhi uses the medium of fiction for exposing the maladies that affect the psychic health of the Society. The caste system and its perpetrator-ism the irrational superstitious beliefs and practices, the subjugation of women and the indifference of his fellow Tamil's towards their language and culture frequently come in for polemical analysis and criticism, in his short stories and poems in particular. This he does by dexterously exporting the resources of satire. But it is not the satire of an angry young man but is that of il matured social critic freed of resentment and malice, often wrapped in gentle irony and humour. Kalaignar's is then art with a purpose, which does not degenerate into propaganda, non does it mark a conflict between entertainment and education. They in most cases work in unison, thanks to Kalaignar's unfailing wit and humour, fun and repartree. ----------- Vice Chancellor There is a close parallel between the nationalist Tamil poet Subramania Bharathi 5 (after whom this University is named) and Kalaignar M. Karunanidhi in that both of them have a deep-rooted conviction in art being an agent of social transformation and the writings of both seek to release people from the shackles of slavery and show them the way of dignity and self respect. Bharathiar firmly believed that at the root of all social problems lay the evil of the caste system. All his life, he stressed that there were only two castes - the righteous and the unrighteous, the former superior and the latter inferior. A standing example of the might of the pen over the sword, Bharathiar's writings played a very significant role not only in gaining freedom for India from foreign yoke but also in unfettering his countrymen from the utterly dehumanizing beliefs and practices of the Indian society. Kalaignar, remaining in the forefront of the fight against social inequality in all its forms, is a writer with ingrained social consciousness and has fathered numerous social reforms as the head of the government and as the leader of a political party, thanks to which people from the sections of the society once looked down as being incapable of thought and knowledge are today intellectuals, professionals and leaders of men. A grand fusion of Periyar, Anna and Bharathiar, Kalaignar stands as a towering personality. Kalaignar now at 86, age has not withered his intellect nor has time made his writings stale. Determined to secure a presence for Tamil literature and culture on the global scene, this University has already translated Bharathi's poems into English and conferred the" Bharathi Tamil Chemmal” award on Kalaignar in 2007, the University's Silver Jubilee year. The present endeavour, translation of Kalaignar's works into English, is a major step towards realizing this goal. G. Thiruvasagam 6 -------------- Prologue Kalaignar M. Karunanidhi's literary works in English translation should constitute a gift of the Tamil language to world literature. In so far as Kalaignar is both a visionary writer and an active practitioner of his vision, he is a phenomenon unto himself, standing a rung or two above his fellow artists of all genres. Kalaignar's significance in the history of Tamil literature primarily lies in his restoration and renewal of the pristine glory of Tamil, the language that is the mother of the Dravidian family of languages and that is one of the primary classical languages of the world. Kalaignar's creativity began to manifest in his concern for the ethnic identity of the Tamils and the aesthetic exuberance of the Tamil language, and today it has matured into a seminal contribution to world literature. Looked at the need for winning international recognition for Tamil literature, especially in the context of the other pan-Indian language, Sanskrit, enjoying worldwide attention and study, the present translations of Kalaignar's selected works into English are an attempt in the right direction. Such of these translations are also a need of the hour for the Tamil language to demonstrate its capacity for indestructibility and rejuvenation, at this hour of the prognosticatory threat of the social scientists that globalization would in its wake see the languages of ethnic communities either wear off or die out. Kavipperarasu Vairamuthu ------------------ 7 Contents Introduction Preface 13. Secret 1. Fame 14. Three Hundred Rupees 2. Nalayini 15. The Poor 3. Temptation 16. As Is in the Original 4. The Dancer 17. A Bunch of Palmyra Fruit 5. The Bin 18. The Story of a Dead Woman 6. Sandal Paste Cup 19. Inquest 7. Godman 20. Doves of a Banyan Tree 8. Love Life of Ganga 21. Birds of Passage 9. Mother's Love 22. Love Letter 10. The Great Escape 23. A Rose in the Desert 11. No Escape 24. The Last Phase 12. Supporter 25. Sweet is Venom ----------------- Introduction Kalaignar M. Karunanidhi, born in 1924 in a hamlet of Thanjavur in the southern part of India, has eminently succeeded in making spectacular contributions both as a statesman and as a man of letters. His has been a full life providing ample space for diplomacy, social reformation and creative writing. Neither a philosopher nor a full- fledged academic living in an ivory tower, he has the courage and the wisdom to think and to act remarkably. A prolific writer endowed with unusual powers of observation and meditation, he has been ceaselessly adorning his beloved Mother Tamil with a steady stream of writings, leaving no genre untouched. It may be poetry or prose, song or verse, essay or story, play or fiction, social novel or historical novel, creative writing or criticism, memoir or autobiography, script for a film or a play, 8 broadcast or speech - he can handle it with astonishing ease.